Modern videogame covers are always hampered by tons of logos, ratings, and various other text designed to help you buy a product. But for collectors who want a nice-looking product with a bit of thought behind it, the cover is a wasted opportunity. So I’m liking this recent trend of alternate box art printed on the reverse of the regular cover; more games should have this small bonus. Bethesda has a poll up right now to pick an alternate cover for The Evil Within. “Asylum” (pictured above) is currently winning, but I think “Piercing Eye” looks striking as well. Consider giving it a vote? Read more…

Though id Software may not have made Wolfenstein: The New Order — MachineGames made it, while id is working on Doom 4 — that doesn’t mean there isn’t any of id’s handiwork in there. Besides making the engine the game runs on, there’s a neat easter egg that brings back memories of Wolfenstein 3D, mainly because it is Wolfenstein 3D. You can play through a stage, similar to easter eggs in id’s Rage that teleported you into Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. While I don’t think developers should make their games to cater exclusively to nostalgia, this is a nice way to remind fans of how far we’ve come. I always loved finding recreations of the first level of Castlevania in some of the latter-day Metroidvania games. Developers, consider doing this more in the future! Read more…

Bethesda has announced that Wolfenstein: The Last Order will be the next installment in the long-running series. It is being considered a reboot to the series, which I’d imagine would normally have them calling it simply Wolfenstein, but since that unsubtitled name was already used for a 2009 sequel, I guess they think that would be too confusing. There’s a new trailer too, and while it’s only prerendered concept stuff, it’s actually fairly cool. The whirring of machinery as the music amps up and then slips into a Jimi Hendrix song is really well done. But for now, it’s just a tease — maybe we’ll see more at E3 in a month. Read more…

Shinji Mikami wants to go out with a bang. He says things like “this will be my last game.” Don’t worry! He just wants to move into a more management-style and producer position. He’ll still be helping to make games – so quit your whining, internet. Anyway, the game is called The Evil Within, and it’s being published by Bethesda. It looks pretty cool, but this announcement trailer looks to be all live-action. I’m interested in seeing video footage of the actual game soon. Still, it sets the tone pretty well, and even Hideki Kamiya said he wet his pants from being so scared. Read more…

Did you love Three Dog, the DJ in Bethesda’s Fallout 3? His voice actor Erik Todd Dellums is hinting at something new for the post-apocalyptic videogame franchise. And since he was actually “given permission” to leak the info, it has to be fairly factual. Read more…

Bethesda recently released a new trailer for Dishonored, their latest action game. It’s a first-person shooter, but you also have magic and technical abilities at your disposal, similar to Bioshock’s setup. The game will allow you to sneak up on enemies and eliminate them stealthily or simply run-and-gun everyone down. Although, a lot of games promise this level of choice, but don’t always fulfill it, so let’s hope Dishonored does. Apparently Half-Life 2’s art director is working on it, and you can definitely see some similarities. So: this looks great – now how about some actual gameplay? Read more…